How do you know 'citizen science' has gotten to be a popular term? Two 'citizen-science projects' are charging people to analyze their poop and claiming it will make the world a better place.
The American Gut Project wants to 'enroll' 10,000 people to pay money to find out what's living in their intestines. uBiome will settle for 2,000.
Science 2.0 has also resisted efforts to be hijacked by greedy hucksters wanting to exploit its popularity (like the American Library Association and fly-by-night publisher Chandos/Woodhead in the UK) but that is the curse of trying to be open - some people are going to be greedy.
However, we would love to 'enroll' 10,000 people in Science 2.0 the same way those companies are doing citizen science, so please send $99 each using the form here and know you have made independent science media possible.
Scott Jackisch, a computer consultant in Oakland, Calif., ran across American Gut while exploring the science behind different diets, and signed up last week. He's read with fascination earlier microbiome research: "Most of the genetic matter in what we consider ourselves is not human, and that's crazy. I wanted to learn about that."Testing a single stool sample costs $99 in that project, but he picked a three-sample deal for $260 to compare his own bacterial makeup after eating various foods.
A three-sample deal! Great! But how exactly is that citizen science? Are blood tests citizen science? How about voting on "The Voice"?
Sheesh.
Tapping citizen-scientists for a novel gut check by Lauran Neergaard, The Associated Press
